Charlotte Rampling was a new name to me. I’m not the sort of person to have seen any of her films before, so The Look was an overview of a filmography I knew nothing about. Ms. Rampling reflects on her style, as do some friends and colleagues.

This was not a film for me. I didn’t know the actress and didn’t find her story very engaging. Coincidentally, I would encounter her again later in the festival.

Elevate‘s a pretty typical documentary. It follows four young men from a basketball academy in Senegal as they work to earn scholarships at American schools, hoping to go on to higher education by way of their athletic prowess. There’s some “fish out of water” as native Africans adjust to the North American climate and culture. They have their rises and their falls. Some ostensibly do better than others.

Honestly, I write off a lot of sports-related films. What I liked about Elevate was that the basketball was a means to an end. These men were focused on getting an education and making more of themselves beyond excelling at basketball. Even a coach notes that one can only play the sport for so long before moving on to some other role in basketball. The film leaves its subjects with each of them on the road to furthering their education. Best ending for a sports documentary.